- James L. Simon used scissors to pluck fliers pinned to the Upper West Side showing hostages taken by Hamas during the October 7 attack on Israel
- He was captured on video casually removing the posters at West 62nd Street and Broadway and throwing them into a nearby trash can
- Simon insisted he was not anti-Semitic and that he took them down to keep the streets clean. He apologized for causing offense
A Broadway theater producer was caught removing posters of Israeli hostages from a transit bus in New York City.
James L. Simon used scissors to pluck fliers pinned up on the Upper West Side depicting the hostages taken by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that left 1,400 people dead.
A neighborhood blog shared images of Simon, who was co-producing the 2022 Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” during the incident.
He was captured on video casually removing the posters at West 62nd Street and Broadway and throwing them into a nearby trash bin.
Simon, who also produced the Broadway musical Pippin, insisted he was not anti-Semitic and that he took them down to keep the streets clean. He apologized for causing offense.
Broadway theater producer James L. Simon was caught removing posters of Israeli hostages from a traffic bus in New York City
He used scissors to peel off fliers pinned up on the Upper West Side depicting hostages taken by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,400 people.
In the video, Simon, wearing a black jacket and brown trousers, is seen lurking near a traffic bus with a pair of scissors in his hands.
He then starts cutting the posters with the Israeli hostages and pulls them down.
The Broadway producer walks a few steps forward and throws it into a trash can in the main Jewish quarter.
Local blog I Love The Upper West Side shared the video on X and was viewed more than 16,000 times.
The man in the video was later identified as Simon and former Broadway producer Adam Epstein punched him out.
“You go to a dark and devious place when you get to a place where you are tearing posters off the wall of Israeli hostages, of innocent people being held captive by terrorists,” he said. The New York Post.
In the video, Simon, wearing a black jacket and brown pants, begins cutting the posters depicting the Israeli hostages and pulls them down.
The Broadway producer walks a few steps forward and throws it into a trash can in the main Jewish quarter
Simon apologized for offending and said he did not do it for anti-Semitic reasons, but to keep the streets clean
Simon apologized for the offence, saying he did not do it for anti-Semitic reasons, but to keep the streets clean.
Citing the city’s Sanitation Department regulations, he said, “I’m a strong supporter of freedom of speech and encourage people to express their opinions, but all I’m asking is to do it legally.”
There have been several incidents in recent weeks of people in New York removing posters of Israeli hostages.
A group of angry construction workers confronted a man caught shooting down kites.
The men took action after witnessing a man pulling down posters taped to light posts at the corner of 67th Drive and 109th Street in Queens.
Jacob Birn, 24, had filmed the man for two blocks, repeatedly tearing up the posters.
On October 17, two young women were caught tearing down posters in Tisch Hall at NYU.
They cleared a wall where students had plastered the faces of some of the hundreds of hostages captured by Hamas and fled with the posters in their arms.